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Leicester City Council

Declarations & pledges

Climate emergency declaration

This council declared a climate emergency on Feb. 1, 2019.

Council only pledge for 2030

“The council will lead by example, working towards the city and the council becoming carbon neutral. We are committed to becoming carbon neutral as a council by 2030 or sooner, to match our ambition for the city.”

Whole area pledge for 2030

“In Leicester we believe that our city needs to become carbon neutral, and to adapt to protect its citizens and the natural world as the climatechanges. Scientific estimates for the speed and scale of global carbon reduction needed suggest that the City of Leicester needs to become carbon neutral by 2030 or sooner.”

Climate documents

Last update: March 16, 2022
Leicester Climate Emergency Strategy

Climate Strategy · PDF
Leicester City Council's Climate Action Plan: April 2020 – March 2023

Action Plan · PDF
Climate Emergency | Leicester City Council

Summary Document · HTML

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Climate Plan Scorecard

This council’s climate plans as of 20th September 2021 were assessed and scored by trained Climate Emergency UK volunteers, as part of the Council Climate Plan Scorecards project.

Show the full Scorecard Read more about the scoring process

Leicester City Council was a top performer amongst single tier councils, in the Community, engagement and communications section.

SectionLeicester City CouncilAverage single tier council
Total score71%50%
Section 1 Governance, development and funding
19/21
10.3/21
Section 2 Mitigation and adaptation
15/18
9.0/18
Section 3 Commitment and integration
6/7
4.1/7
Section 4 · Top performer Community, engagement and communications
9/9
5.1/9
Section 5 Measuring and setting emissions targets
4/5
2.9/5
Section 6 Co-benefits
3/4
2.2/4
Section 7 Diversity and inclusion
0/5
0.9/5
Section 8 Education, skills and training
1/5
2.3/5
Section 9 Ecological emergency
3/4
2.1/4

Emissions data

1164.3 ktCO2

Total 2020 emissions

3.3 tCO2

per person

15.9 ktCO2

per km2

34%

Domestic

27%

Transport

25%

Industry

8%

Commercial

6%

Public Sector

0%

Agriculture

Data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy “subset dataset”, representing carbon dioxide emissions within the scope of influence of local authorities.

These councils are the most similar to Leicester City Council in terms of emissions profile, deprivation, rural/urban population density, and geographical nearness. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Coventry City Council87%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Luton Borough Council87%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Enfield84%No2030July 8, 2019
Portsmouth City Council83%No2030March 19, 2019
Southampton City Council83%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Bristol City Council80%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
London Borough of Ealing80%Yes2030April 2, 2019
Greater London Authority80%YesDec. 1, 2019
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council79%NoNo targetJuly 6, 2020
Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council79%No2030March 10, 2020

These councils are the most similar to Leicester City Council in terms of their emissions profile, based on the latest data from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Gloucester City Council91%Yes2030July 11, 2019
West Midlands Combined Authority90%No2041June 28, 2019
Harlow Council89%Yes2030July 11, 2019
Coventry City Council89%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Sheffield City Council89%Yes2050Feb. 6, 2019
Plymouth City Council88%Yes2030March 18, 2019
Wolverhampton City Council87%No2028July 17, 2019
Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council87%No2025Sept. 11, 2019
Gosport Borough Council86%Yes2050No
Portsmouth City Council86%No2030March 19, 2019

Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council99%No2030No
Charnwood Borough Council98%Yes2030No
Blaby District Council98%Yes2030No
Harborough District Council97%No2030June 24, 2019
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council96%No2030July 16, 2019
Rushcliffe Borough Council95%Yes2030March 7, 2019
North West Leicestershire District Council95%Yes2030June 25, 2019
Melton Borough Council95%No2030July 17, 2019
Rugby Borough Council95%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Nottingham City Council94%Yes2028Jan. 21, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Leicester City Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in high deprivation, medium deprivation, and low deprivation neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
Luton Borough Council93%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
Southampton City Council88%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Portsmouth City Council84%No2030March 19, 2019
London Borough of Enfield84%No2030July 8, 2019
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham82%No2030Jan. 30, 2020
Coventry City Council81%NoNo targetJune 18, 2019
Hastings Borough Council78%Yes2030Feb. 13, 2019
Bristol City Council78%Yes2025Nov. 13, 2018
Ipswich Borough Council75%Yes2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Croydon75%YesNo targetJuly 15, 2019

These councils are the most similar to Leicester City Council in terms of the proportion of their population living in urban, rural, and highly rural neighbourhoods. Read more about how we calculate this.

Council nameSimilarityHas planCarbon Neutral byDeclared emergency
London Borough of Hounslow100%Yes2030No
Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames100%Yes2038June 25, 2019
Manchester City Council100%Yes2038July 10, 2019
Luton Borough Council99%Yes2040Jan. 13, 2020
London Borough of Sutton99%No2045July 22, 2019
London Borough of Harrow99%Yes2030July 18, 2019
Southampton City Council99%Yes2030Sept. 18, 2019
Watford Borough Council98%No2030July 9, 2019
London Borough of Barnet98%NoNo targetMay 24, 2022
Slough Borough Council98%YesNo targetNo

Features

This council’s climate plan has been tagged with the following features:

Comprehensive plan for mitigation Integrated with Local Plan Strong on engagement Clear communication Strong on public health

Powers & Responsibilities

Leicester City Council is a Unitary Authority, with powers over:

Council buildings and staff

Climate actions might include:

  • making council offices more energy efficient
  • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
  • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    Environmental health

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing industrial emissions through air quality enforcement
    • bringing up insulation and energy efficiency standards through enforcement of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) and Decent Homes Standard 2000, for cold and damp conditions in private rental and social housing

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Passenger transport

    Climate actions might include:

    • encouraging bus and private hire operators to use low-emission vehicles, through licensing requirements or Clean Air Zones
    • incentivising bus use by improving routes, timetables, and ticket prices through ‘Enhanced Partnerships’ with operators
    • proposing to central government the development of light rail / tram networks that integrate, rather than compete, with other modes of transport in the area

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Planning and building control

    Climate actions might include:

    • imposing reasonable requirements that new developments comply with energy efficiency standards and get a proportion of their energy from local, renewable sources (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • incorporating additional energy performance standards into their Local Plan, for new works that require planning permission
    • using Area Action Plans to guide development proposals towards lower carbon emissions or more cycling and walking routes, for example
    • enforcing legislation that requires private rental properties to be of Energy Efficiency Rating E or above (Energy Efficiency Regulations, 2015)
    • funding energy efficiency improvements on existing homes, through initiatives such as Green Homes Grants

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Schools and libraries

    Climate actions might include:

    • reducing the carbon footprint of civic buildings through better insulation and renewable energy use
    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ or public transport use among employees
    • providing carbon literacy training for employees
    • encouraging eco-clubs at schools
    • using school land to plant trees and hedgerows, or to grow food

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Housing

    Climate actions might include:

    • setting energy standards above building regulations (Planning and Energy Act, 2008)
    • enabling housing associations to improve the energy efficiency of their housing stock through loans
    • where councils operate their own social housing, prioritising energy efficiency – for example, by requiring Passivhaus standard for newly built schemes

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Spending, procuring, and investing

    Climate actions might include:

    • embedding carbon impact assessment as part of the council’s budgeting and financial accountability process
    • utilising Public Works Loan Board loans or the Business Rates Retention Scheme to invest in emissions-reducing capital projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded
    • specifying low carbon equipment and practices when procuring for relevant services from suppliers
    • prioritising positive environmental impacts during procurement, through the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
    Transport planning

    Climate actions might include:

    • incentivising ‘Active Travel’ like walking and cycling by creating or widening footways and cycleways
    • incentivising Electric Vehicle use by assigning street space to EV charging
    • disincentivising the use of fossil fuel cars through congestion charging,low-traffic neighbourhoods, or the reduction of parking space

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Waste collection and disposal

    Climate actions might include:

    • establishing ‘Joint Waste Solutions’ with neighbouring councils, to get more value out of waste, recycling, and street cleaning contracts
    • running marketing campaigns to encourage residential recycling, reuse, and waste minimisation

    See more in the Climate Emergency UK checklist.

    Read more about English local authority powers in the UK100 Power Shift report.

    More about this council

    leicester.gov.uk
    Leicester City Council’s official homepage.
    Tyndall Centre Carbon Budget report
    Check Leicester City Council’s ‘carbon budget’ – their share towards meeting the UK’s Paris agreement targets.
    Friends of the Earth ‘Near You’ tool
    Discover climate groups in this area, data about Leicester City Council’s climate performance, and actions you can take.

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    Cite this page

    mySociety, Climate Emergency UK (2023). CAPE: Leicester City Council. Available at: http://cape.mysociety.org/councils/leicester-city-council/ [Accessed 2 Apr 2023].

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